Made Too Well

Striving to make the best possible product has unforeseen consequences.
20:03 / 21:26
#franlab #frantone #pedal
- Music by Fran Blanche -

[gordonmacqueen]

I love how Fran lays out, concisely, explicitly and firmly her actual experience in manufacturing and the comments are all questioning that - "what if" this and "what about" that.

I think it points in part to how dystopian the current consumer culture really is.

[motten]

This was eye-opening. How sad that we can't have well-made, long-lasting stuff for fear of market saturation. Means less would go to landfill, too. ☹️ Your integrity and the meticulous care you took in manufacturing Frantone pedals to the highest standard, sparing no expense, is really something to be proud of.

[jan-akebarme]

Hi Fran, this episode immediately made me think of one of the prime examples of "too well made", namely the company Proteus in the UK.

They made mills mainly intended for use in beer breweries and whisky distilleries. They are used to mill the malted barley to a consistency suitable to make the wort for fermentation. There were other companies making similar mills, many of which that also fits the description too well made, but Proteus is still the prime example.

These mills were produced and sold a lot in about 1890 - 1930 something. They are made from cast iron and has very high quality castings. Some parts are made from forged steel and other materials deemed appropriate. The rollers inside that performs the actual milling can be adjusted both up and down and sideways, which means that almost no matter how much they wear you can still get the mill to continue working perfectly.

In the early days most of these mills were driven by water wheels powered from a nearby river or creek. A bit later many of them were driven by steam engines, yet a bit later some were driven by hit and miss crude oil engines. In the 40ies and 50ies most of them were equipped with electric motors, and it is not very unusual to see the original motors from that time still driving them today.

So, what happened to Proteus? Well, as soon as all breweries and distilleries in the UK and it´s colonies had purchased a Proteus mill, or a similar mill from another similar company, almost no one wanted to buy any more mills. I have read somewhere that more than 80% of the mills Proteus made about 90 - 130 years ago are still in commercial operation to this very day... To me that feels like strong enough evidence that they might have been a slight touch "to well made" 😄

[toyotaboyhatman]

Home depot's default margin is 30%. I engineered for a company that sold a lot of product to them and most of the time HD made more money than the company making the product (which was a lot more work than a retailer that's effectively a warehouse). The biggest reason we sold to them is because the increased volume lowered our piece part cost so we could make more profit at our direct sales distributors.

[heronimousbrapson]

My mother bought an oster blender in 1969 and it was still functional in the mid-2010's, although the bearings were just starting to go. We bought one for our son when he went away to college in 2009. It lasted 4 months.

[joekurtz]

Had worked for an Enteprenuer in my teens ( piecemeal) making mini- trampoline joggers, we did as much in- house except for spring mfg. Top quality does come at a price, learned alot at an early age of the woes you go thru @ the mfg level

[anthonynicholson]

Fran. Your pedals are art and gifts to humanity. Not a buisness

[dtsdigitalden]

What the ...

I've been watching your videos for ages. Can't believe you're the designer / builder of the Frantone pedals - and I only just realised it. Unreal!

[brookestephen]

every time i bought a slow-cooker of any manufacturer, I'm shocked to find it's been recalled, as I'm placing food in it... LOL

[hoboroadie]

I used to work on the Presses for U.C. Printing Services in Berkeley, and I recall printing a brochure for an Engineering Graduate Conference themed on the subject of "Controlling Product Life Cycles". I reckon that this is where most of our current research and development money is invested by Fearless Leader, as it is the one field where the United States maintains a Strategic Advantage.

[trainliker]

I see a few commentors have used the term "Planned obsolescence" in the context of meaning a product that will wear out quickly. This is actually not the meaning of this often misunderstood term. it was coined by Industrial Designer Brooks Stevens. It means changing a design, even if only cosmetically, so the consumer now sees the one they already own, even if perfectly functional, as "obsolete" and replaces it with a new one. It encourages sales. For example, Stevens contracted to Evinrude and made numerous external appearance changes to their outboard motors while the innards were unchanged. 1950's U.S. automobiles are a sterling example of "planned obsolescence." Especially then (but still true to an extent today although for the life of me I can scarcely tell cars apart and they don't change much annually) many didn't want to be seen driving "last year's" model. It does not mean a product is designed to become obsolete by failure, but by perception.

[anonymous.youtuber]

Here in Belgium NOVA made mixers, toasters, irons etc… These appliances were built to last and oh boy did they. Sadly it ended in bankruptcy for the same reason you mentioned. To us admirers of good design, quality, durability and repairability this is a sad reality.

[robertmyers]

Yes. Anyone thinking about manufacturing a specialty item should listen to Fran's advice.

Years ago I designed and knitted a nice shopping bag. I worked on the design through several iterations until I had it just right, and I made about a dozen or so. I gave several to some close friends and kept about four or five. At the grocery store all the clerks oohed and ahhed over them and said I should make a lot more and sell them. Yeah, well... what they didn't know is that it took about forty hours to knit one bag. No one in their right mind was going to pay me a week's salary for just one knitted shopping bag, no matter how wonderful it was.

[genericsomething]

Instant Pot's troubles started after some recalls and a merger. The new management wanted them to diversify their product line and change things. I'm convinced that if they had stuck to making their core product, and not sold out, they would still be doing OK today.

[KeritechElectronics]

Reminds me of Kudelski and Nagra - these recorders that were absolute things of beauty, built to last, they just didn't break. They were expensive, of course - and Nagra refused to go cheap, they eventually had to stop making these really real reel-to-reels, develop digital recorders to stay in the market.

I used to be friends with a guy who co-ran Black Dog Amplification. His amps were somewhat inspired by Trainwreck and Matchless, mighty good quality... but there was almost no profit in it, and it was around 2005-6, when I was learning the tube stuff. Now, with economy down in the dumps and Chinese stuff all over the place, I can't see that.

Another thing is that desirability rides on promises and hype rather than actual quality. Tell'em and sell'em. Verification comes later, or never (if the buyer is blinded by the company/product and can't think critically)... cash made, time to close and move somewhere else, rinse, repeat. Quaestionable ethics in the name of greed.

[narcoosseefl]

I have a friend who made a extremely good product and was successful - he just sold the (small) company so he could retire. The key is to control the entire supply chain - YOU do the retail sales.

[mindwolf]

Let’s not underestimate the role of private equity in this bankruptcy. Private equity firms buy up successful companies, find ways to pump the margins in the short term, and then declare bankruptcy after a few years and move on to the next company to destroy. Art Van Furniture in Detroit was around for 60 years, got bought by PE, and went out of business four years later. PE came for Instant Pot in 2019, it’s now four years later….. This is the business model, and not a failure in the eyes of the people that made money off it.

[wegder]

In the late 1980s I bought a plastic watering can, back then a high quality watering can was made of metal. Apparently they put to much UV stabilizer in that watering can, after being mistreated outdoors for decades it is just now starting to fail.

[littleshopofelectrons]

I built a special kind of LED lighting fixture for my Bridgeport milling machine which avoids the shadows on the work piece caused by traditional methods. I built it just for myself. Several people have commented that I should build these and sell them. I told them that it wouldn't be worth my trouble for many of the reasons that you stated.

[michaelv]

Speaking of long lasting, I've always wondered if Crockpot had that same problem. It's a product you buy when you first set up household and literally may last until you die. My parents both passed away in the last five years, and the same Crockpot they had still works and it has to be fifty years old, and the new ones are identical.